Drawers



1 Sept. 8, 1936. I jig 2,053,256

DRAWERS Filed Jan. 25, 1955 1 2 Shets-Shet 1 Edmund Gurney E. GURNEYSept. 8, 1936.

DRAWERS Filed Jan. 25, 1935' 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 i/dmund Gurney PatentedSept. 8, 1936 znsazss unire raras errant cries Edmund Gurney,

Long Beach, Calif.

Application January 25. issaseriai-no. 3,414

1 Claim. (01. 2- 224) jacent the seam betweenthese elements at the Thisinvention relates to wearing apparel and particularly to mens drawers ofthe type commonly termed shorts.

A broad obj cct of the invention is to increase the durability ofgarments, the major portions of whichiare made of relatively inexpensivematerials.

- A more specific object is to so reinforce a pair of drawers that theycan be constructed of material having relatively low resistance totearing and still give "-goodservice, 1

: Themanner in which the foregoing objects are achieved, together withother objects and features of the invention, will now be explainedwithreference to the drawings, in which Fig. 1 is a front view of a pair ofdrawers constructed in accordance with the invention;

Fig. Zis a rear view of the same garment;

Fig. 3is a plan view of a reinforcing element used to strengthen theflyand crotch of the garment;

Fig. lis a-pl anview of another reinforcing element employed on theopposite fly to that on which the element shown in Fig. 3 is employed;

Fig. 5 is a plan view of the front portion of one of the side panels ofthe garment;

Fig. 6 is a plan view of the front portion of the other side panel ofthe garment; and

Figs. 7, 8, 9, 10 and 11 illustrate the successive steps involved insewing together the elements shown in Figs. 3, 4, 5 and 6, in making thegarment.

As generally constructed, mens shorts are composed of either two orthree pieces. Thus the garment shown in the drawings comprises threemain pieces consisting of a left side panel I, a right side panel 2 anda rear panel 3. ner in which these three elements are combined,considered as units, is well known and is clearly illustrated in Figs. 1and 2.

The garment disclosed diifers from prior known garments in that the rearpanel 3 is bias cut so that the threads of this piece run diagonallyinstead of vertically and horizontally, as in the side panels 5 and 2. Ihave found this construction to be of great advantage in that the biascut panel 3 affords resilience in a circumferential and in a verticaldirection, which permits the garment to yield sufiic'iently in responseto movements of the wearer to prevent tearing strains: which mightotherwise result.

Another novel feature of the garment disclosed in Figs. 1 and 2 lies inreinforcing elements 4 and 5 which extend along the fly margins of theside panels I and 2 and reinforce the material adcrotch of the garment;The reinforcing elements t and '5 greatly increase the resistance of thegarment to tearing. at the crotch by virtue of the fact that'they'areindividually sewn to their associated 5 side panels l and 2,respectively, prior joindei'. of the latter.

The shape of the reinforcing elementli prior to its incorporation intothe garment is shown in Fig. 3 and the shape of the reinforcing element4 is shown in Fig. 4. The margins of these elements t and 5 correspondin shape to the margins of the side panels l and 2, respectively, thelatter being illustrated-in Fig. 6 and Fig. 5, respectively. Thereinforcing element 5 is first secured to the side panels Zby' layingthe element 5 on the panel 2, as shown in Fig.7, and sewing the twotogether closely along the margin, as shown at I. Thereafter the partsare reversed by folding them back about 'ther seam l andagain stitchingthe two together at the stitching 8 shown in Fig. 9. It will be observedthat the stitching 8 follows very closely the margin of the reinforcingelement 5 except along the length (d) in Fig. 9, at which point thestitching is preferably spaced about a quarter of an inch inwardly fromthe margin for a purpose to be described.

The reinforcing element 5 is similarly attached to the side panel I ofthe garment first by stitching the two together along their outermargins, as shown at 9 in Fig. 8, then reversing the parts about theseam 9 and stitching them together all around the margin, as shown atl!) in Fig. 10.

The two units, one comprising the side panel 2 and its reinforcingelement 5, as shown in Fig. 9, and the other comprising the side paneland its reinforcing element 4, as shown in Fig. 10, are then combined bystitching them together along the length (a), as shown in Fig. 11.During this sewing operation the inwardly spaced stitching 8 on thepanel 2 serves as a guide to the operator, the edge of the correspondingportion (a) of the panel i being maintained close to the stitching 8over the corresponding portion (a) of the panel 2 during the sewingoperation.

Following the joinder of the side panels I and 2 to each other at thecrotch, as shown in Fig. 11, the two parts are sewed to each other andto the rear panel 3 to complete the garment in accordance with wellestablished practice which is too well known to those skilled in the artto merit detailed description. Observation of the seams of the completedgarment as shown in Fig. 1 is sufficient to inform any tailor how theremaining seams of the garment are formed.

to the I have determined by careful investigation and experiment thatthe crotch is the weakest point of a garment of the type described andthat the garment is much more apt to tear or rip apart adjacent theupper end of the crotch seam (as indicated at (a) than anywhere else. Byreinforcing this area in the manner described with the reinforcingstrips 4 and 5, the strength of the garment at this point of weaknessmay be so greatly increased that the side panel portions I and 2 of thegarment may be made of very inexpensive material while at the same timeyielding a garment that is actually stronger and more durable than thosemade in accordance with former practice from much stronger materials.

Still another feature of the invention resides in the use of buttonholesH positioned in the waistband of the garment for attaching the garmentto the suspender buttons of the trousers of the wearer. I preferablyprovide at least two or more buttonholes II on each side of the garment, as shown in Fig. 1, to permit adjustment to take care of varyingspacing between the suspender buttons on different trousers.

' Still another feature of the invention resides in the use of'tapeloops l2 (Fig. 2) in combination with buttons I3 for providing anadjustment of the waistband dimensions of the garment. It has beencommon practice heretofore to provide tapes which would be tied togetherfor reducing the waistband, or elastic inserts. I have found that it ishighly desirable in a garment of this general type to provide additionalfullness below the waist by inserting'darts I 3' at the waistband. Ihave found that the loops l2 may be attached to the waistband withpractically no additional labor by sewing the ends of the loop into thefolds of the darts I3 at the time the latter are formed. Thereaftersubstantially the only additional labor required is to attach thebuttons I 3 and this can be done very inexpensively.

As a result of the various features described in and the invention istherefore to be limited only as set forth in the appended claim.

I claim:

The method of stituting the opposite sides of the fly of a crotchfitting garment to each other and to a pair of reinforcing stripsextending along the fly margins of the panels, consisting of positioningeach of said reinforcing strips on its associated panel member withtheir fly edges in registration and joining the front panels con sewingthem together closely adjacent their fly edges, then reversing eachstrip and panel about said sewn edge, then sewing each strip to itsassociated panel along each edge of the strip of.

stitching closely adjacent the margin of the reinforcing strip exceptalong that portion of the margin of one strip which is to be overlappedby the other panel when the two are sewn together, the stitching alongsaid portion being spaced from theedge a distance slightly greater thanthe overlap of the other panel, whereby the stitching serves as a guideto gauge the amount of overlap when the panels are later sewed together,and thereafter sewing each panel as a unit with its associatedreinforcing strip to the other panel, the reinforced portions of thepanels overlapping each other adjacent the crotch of the garment.

EDMUND GURNEY.

